Improvement in water-wheels



PATENT OFFICE.

`Gimmy E. WRIGHT, or GRANITEVILLE, MASSAOHUSETTS,

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.iflSJlS, dated July 4,12365.n

.T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GTLMAN F. WR1eH'1,`of Graniteville, in the county ofMiddlesex and State ot' Massachusetts, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Water- Wheels; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the constructionand operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure lrepresents atop plan of the wheel, with a portion of the case brokenaway to show the interior. Fig. 2 represents a front elevation of thewheel and hoisting mechanism and the case inclosin g the wheel. Fig. 3represents a vertical central section through the wheel, guides, case,and hoisting mechanism.

Similar letters of reference, where they occur in the separate gures,denote like parts in al1 the drawings. 4

My invention consists in combining with the inlet water-way of awater-wheel a ring curb or gate, stationary guides, and a water-wheel,as will be hereinafter described, and so that the curb or gate may beraised and lowered vertically, for the purpose of increasing ordiminishing the quantity of water let onto the Wheel.

Y To enable others skilled in the art to make `and use my invention, Iwill proceed to describe thegsame with reference tothe drawings.

A represents the case inclosing the waterwheel B, the stationary guidesB and the ring curb or gate G. There is also within this outer case ascroll water-way, D, through which the water is admitted to and throughthe stationary guides B', and thence to the buckets of the wheel B.

E is the shaft ot' the water-wheel, from which its power may betransmitted to the machinery to be driven byit. The step of thewaterwheel shaft is at a, and is supported in the curved arms F, whichare secured to the case A. The

' upper bearing of the sh aft is made in the curved arms G, as at b,said arms G being secured to the upper side of the case A. The generalcurve or shape of the buckets c ot' the wheel B is seen in Fig. l, andin addition to this general form they are arched or curved at their top,as seen at d, Fig. 3, and have a lip, e, turned on their lower and outeredge, as seen in the detached figure to the right of Fig. 3.

The ring gate or curb Gis made so as to snugly t and move over or pastthe openings fof the stationary guide in a vertical direction,

to open or close said water-ways at pleasure v and to such extent as maybe desirable. The inclination of the water-ways in the guide, and thecurvature or general inclination of the buckets, with regard to eachother and to the center ot' the wheel, are shown in Fig. l. The archedform of the tops of the buckets and of the water-way between them isdesigned for lifting the Wheel from its lower support in the step u, andthus relieving it of much' ot' its friction, and the lips .e on thelower and outer edges of the buckets are to afford a bearing for thewater or its gravity, and thus act as an adjunct in driving the wheel,as well as to bali ancef it, and cause it to run trulyand smoothly.

The double curvature of the buckets from the rim toward the centerV ofthe wheel is for get- `ting all the available force of the water upon`the buckets before it escapes from the wheel,

shaft may work to turn the shaft when necessary. Upon this shaft I aretwo spur-gears, g g, that work into theracks h h on the upper ends ofthe rods i t', said rods being united to the gate or curb C, and bywhich means the curbor gate may be raised, lowered, and held at anydesired position, and so that the head of watersh all bethe same whetherthe wheel be running with, say, four inches of water or with double thatamount, as it is always admitted to the lower part of the wheel, andwhatever amount of water is cut off is thus taken oft' from the top ofthe wheel.

The scroll water way or inlet D being filled with water, the rin g-gateC may be raised, and the water is at once admitted through thestationary guide B to the wheel. The gate C, to prevent it from turningaround, but still allow it to move in a vertical direction, may bemitered or braced to the case A, as seen by the dotted lines atj, Fig. landthe rods i i may also move in stationary supports to keep themselves,as well as the gate, from leaving their the wheel, yet the guide itselfmay extend up to the upper case,A,and form above thewheel a guide andsupport for the gate when it is raised up above the Wheel or anydistance above the lower part of the wheel.

The stationary guide is kept from:

When necessary to open up the Though the openings in the guidev Havingthus fully described my invention, what I claim therein as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In combination with the scroll Water-Way D,

the ring gate or curb C, the stationary guide e B', and the wheel B, thewhole being constructed, arranged, and operated in the manner and forthe purpose substantitlly as herein described and represented.

GILMAN F. WRIGHT.

Witnesses:

LUTHER PREsooTT, NORMAN H. BRUCE.

